The Hessian :: essays research papers

Frederick Douglass was an e cosmoscipated slave who passed from one master to another until hefinally found the satisfaction of being his own he went through almost as some discerns asmasters. His mothers family name, traceable at least as far back as 1701 (FD, 5) wasBailey, the name he bore until his flight to freedom in 1838. His father may or may nothave been a white man named Anthony, but Douglass never firmly validated or rejected thispossibility. During transit to New York (where he became a freedman) his name becameStanley, and upon arrival he changed it again to Johnson. In New Bedford, where there weretoo many Johnsons, he found it necessary to change it once more, and his final plectron wasDouglass, taken, as suggested to him by a white friend and benefactor, from a story by SirWalter Scott (although the character in that story bore only a individual s in his name). All throughout, he clung to Frederick, to preserve a sense of my identity (Norton, 1988).This succession of names is illustrative of the transformation undergone by one returningfrom the world of the dead, which in a sense is what the move from oppression to libertyis. Frederick Douglass not only underwent a transformation but, being intelligent andendowed with the gift of Voice, he brought back with him a sharp perspective on the blightsof racism and slavery. Dropped into America during the heat of reform as he was, hisappearance on the scene of debate, upon his own self-emancipation, was a invaluable blessingfor the abolitionists. In their struggles so far, there had been many skilled arguers butfew who could so convincingly portray the evils of slavery, an act which seemed to demandlittle short of firsthand experience, but which also required a clear understanding of it. Douglass had both, and proved himself an incredibly powerful weapon for reform. While theidentity of his father is uncertain, it is more often than not accepted that the man was white,giving Douglass a mixed anc estry. Mirroring this, he was also blessed with an eye thatcould bring into focus different perspectives and, just as many multi-racial children todayare able to speak multiple languages with ease, he had the ability to translate in the mosteloquent fashion between the worlds of the black man and white man. Thus, ironically, thetorturous beginning of Douglass existence was inadvertently made (by him) into a treasurefor us (being mainly white America). The story of the American Dream, wherein a young